Heritage status

By Sharon Endugesick

The 100th anniversary of St. Nicholas Church has been commemorated with a Heritage Toronto plaque, honouring the important role the church has played in the community of Birch Cliff.

St. Nicholas Church Heritage Toronto plaque

St. Nicholas was established in 1912 when Birch Cliff consisted of mostly farms and cottages south of Kingston Road.

First church in wooden stable

The church’s website does a great job of chronicling the church’s history. For example, did you know that St. Nicholas was originally located in a wooden stable at the bottom of “Harvey Avenue” – now known as Haig Avenue?

On Sunday, January 16, 1916 parishioners arrived for services to find the church on fire. Mr. Ed Redmond and members of the 6th Toronto Scout Troop managed to save the baptismal font and the piano, but the rest was destroyed

St. Nicholas Church, 1914

Rebuilding at Manderly and Kingston Road

At that point, it was decided to build a new church out of brick and move to a more accessible location, which is how it wound up at the corner of Kingston Road and Manderly Drive.

The Heritage Toronto plaque represents the important role St. Nicholas Church has played in Toronto and more specifically in the community of Birch Cliff.

Archbishop attends unveiling

In keeping with the official dedication of the church building by the bishop of Toronto on August 9th, 1912 the Archbishop of Toronto, Colin Johnson, was in attendance.

The Archbishop reminded us that St Nicholas is not just a building but represents now, and throughout the years, the Anglican tradition of involving members

Archbishop Colin Johnson with long-standing parishioner Mildred Hilton

of a entire community through outreach and hospitality. He closed the presentation fittingly with a prayer of St Nicholas.

St. Nicholas once housed library

Other notables in attendance were, city councillor Gary Crawford, who shared that our church basement was used as one of the first libraries in Birch Cliff.

Sonia Halloran elaborated that not only was the basement used as a library but Taylor Memorial Library is named for Florence Nightingale Taylor, the wife of the second rector of St Nicholas, the Reverend William J. Taylor.

Church outreach

Deb Chapman reiterated the importance of our most needed outreach projects, such as the Churches By the Bluffs Community Services Food Bank, the Interfaith Lunch Program and the Birch Cliff Christmas Feast.